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NACWA is encouraging its members to take advantage of EPA’s offer of technical assistance for integrated planning.  NACWA has been urging EPA to provide communities with funding to help craft integrated plans, and although limited to a total of $335,000 in technical assistance, this assistance could provide some advantages beyond just the dollar amount.  NACWA continues its efforts to obtain further funding for an integrated planning pilot program in the FY 2015 appropriations bills, but would like to ensure that EPA receives strong interest in this technical assistance. This Advocacy Alert provides information on applying for the technical assistance.

Technical Assistance for Integrated Planning

EPA announced May 9 the availability of $335,000 in technical assistance for up to five communities seeking technical support to develop and implement an integrated planning approach to meeting Clean Water Act requirements for municipal wastewater and stormwater management. EPA hopes the technical assistance will help to develop practical examples of how to implement the different steps in developing an integrated plan in order to provide useful information to communities across the nation who are interested in integrated planning.

Communities selected to receive assistance under this effort would receive help from EPA’s technical assistance contractor, TetraTech, in an amount equal to the assistance award; no direct grant funding is available at this time. Although EPA has indicated that it will only make an award to five communities in this initial round, the Agency also indicated that if additional funding becomes available, it may return to the applicant pool to select additional recipient communities.

EPA is interested in seeing both the technical assistance effort and its broader integrated planning initiative succeed, as is NACWA. While the Agency is not suggesting that communities receiving technical assistance funds will receive any special treatment, EPA has made it clear that early adopters of integrated planning would likely benefit from greater flexibility.

How to Apply

Interested communities are being asked to respond to EPA’s Request for Letters of Interest . Applicants should submit their letters of interest via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to the attention of Kevin Weiss. Letters of interest must be received by June 27, 2014, 5:00 pm EST.

If your community is planning to apply for this technical assistance, please notify Chris Hornback at the NACWA National Office at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , so we can engage EPA during the selection process.